Quote:Gmirkin p258:
.. The idea that Megasthenes anticipated Berossus in popularizing Nebuchadnezzar is untenable. Rather, Megasthenes will have written his Indika no earlier than 278 BCE, incorporating claims made about Nebuchadnezzar in Berossus's Babyloniaca.
The correct chronological sequence appears to have been as follows: the return of Megasthenes from India after 288 BCE; Berossus's Babyloniaca authored in 278 BCE; and Megasthenes' Indika authored some time after 278. It is likely that Megasthenes was commissioned to write the Indika by Antiochus I for the same reasons that Berossus was commissioned to write the Babyloniaca, and not long afterwards.
If Megasthenes had assumed a nativized identity, it would have wrecked true havoc in India. Whichever Chndragupta kicked these jokers out did an immeasurable service to Bharat.